Weekly teaching and research seminars.
After Shi Ci finished her speech, she felt a little bored. L University was her alma mater, so it was impossible for her to have no feelings for it, but the colleagues around her were either older than her or she thought they were boring, so Shi Ci's popularity with colleagues was average.
In her first year at L University, her classes were packed, with many students from other majors even attending as auditors. When she was teaching third-year undergraduates an introduction to operations research, she often asked, "Why? This problem still takes so long?"
"What's so difficult about this? Isn't the answer already there?"
"What are you looking at me for? I am very beautiful, but the solution to the problem is not in my face."
"Student, hold your phone higher, don't take a crooked picture of me, and don't use a filter."
…
There was laughter in the classroom and the students had starry eyes the whole time.
But by the end of the semester they couldn't laugh anymore.
There were so many students failing in the first year that even the dean was alarmed.
The dean was her undergraduate teacher. He smiled and told her not to be too strict. "Little Shi Ci, not all students are as smart as yours. You have to be patient."
"Take away the 'we', teacher. Am I not the smartest one?" Shi Ci was a little disrespectful in front of her.
"Hahaha, yes, yes." The old professor glanced at her, "And don't dress too young. After all, you are the teacher!"
Shi Ci shrugged and refused to deny it.
She relaxed a little in the second year, but there were even more students attending her classes. The classrooms arranged by the school could not accommodate all the students, and the corridors were full of standing students. Some people even recorded the classes with cameras and compiled them into a video album.
Shi Ci glanced over and said, "Although I am beautiful and my classes are good, I don't want to see this on the Internet."
Therefore, these videos are only circulated within the L University campus.
So she is very famous in L University and feels very comfortable in it.
She received many confessions, from colleagues, students, men and women.
But she won't eat grass near her nest, no matter how delicious it is.
But I didn’t find anything delicious.
She really doesn't like having meetings every week. She gets distracted every time she attends one, especially since the Qingming Festival holiday starts tomorrow.
She opened WeChat, flipped through it, and came across the chat room with Shi Hai.
The last line reads, "Since she said so, what else can I do? I have to leave! My brother told me that besides waiting here, there is one last way."
"That means accepting her as your sister, getting closer first, and then talking about it."
Playing the brother, sister, elder sister, and younger brother game...
Old fashioned.
Shi Ci snorted softly at the time and replied: "Isn't it enough that I have you as a brother? You want to find me another sister?"
The conversation ended here, and I don’t know whether Shi Hai really recognized her as his sister.
Shi Ci's fingertips slid upwards.
Pause on a video shot by Shi Hai.
The picture was of a face she had seen twice.
Shi Ci's slender white fingertips paused in the air, then nodded.
Her skin was very white, even a bit sickly white. She had short black hair and a long, thin neck. The sunlight cast a thin layer of gold from her hair to her neck.
With his brows lowered, he was studying seriously and didn't care at all about Shi Hai who was sitting opposite him.
It’s really hard to catch up!
Shi Ci raised the corners of his lips.
It has been cloudy and drizzling for several days in a row. It always rains during the Qingming Festival.
In a cemetery in the suburbs north of the city.
Shi Hai said a few words in front of his grandparents' grave, then walked for a distance to find Shi Ci.
In front of another tombstone, Shi Ci stood there, with his head slightly lowered, and put down the bouquet of white roses in his arms.
Shi Hai didn't go over and considerately left space for his sister.
The photo on the tombstone is of a girl with a pair of sweet dimples when she smiles.
Shi Ci stared at the photo silently for a while.
"In recent years, I sometimes wonder what you will be like after you turn 30." She smiled, "You should still be this cute..."
His fingertips touched the photo.
"I'm fine." Shi Ci laughed, "But I haven't met anyone half as lovely as you."
Her eyes dropped to the white roses and then returned to the photograph.
"If I meet him... I will bring him to you to meet..."
Her voice was gentle, as if she was chatting with an old friend face to face. Shi Hai was not far away and could also hear what she said.
Shi Ci came out when he was very young, and he can't quite remember the details.
It seemed that when Shi Ci was in college, she brought her girlfriend home one day and formally told her parents about her sexual orientation.
Shi Hai later analyzed that Ms. Ding and Old Man Shi might have always seen through the situation but not said anything, neither opposing nor approving. Unexpectedly, Shi's words were so firm that he tore through the window paper and forced his parents to express their stance.
Shi Hai was only seven or eight years old at the time. He only remembered that there were several quarrels at home. Shi Ci did not go home for a long time and did not play with him.
Later, for a period of time, Ms. Ding and Mr. Shi seemed to agree and accept it. Shi Hai's impression of his sister's girlfriend was that she was very beautiful and patient. Every time she came home, she would bring him toys and occasionally take him out to play together.
Ms. Ding told him that there was a new sister in the family.
Shi Ci told him that this was his sister's beloved.
He seemed to understand it, but was happy to see it succeed.
Later, my sister’s beloved fell ill and never came to their house again.
Later, my sister went abroad.
Come again, she is back.
However, Shi Hai knew that she had always been alone over the years.
Although she had a relationship with the girl named Wenwen, she did not bring her home.
It's different after all.
Shi Hai sighed deeply and with an air of old-fashionedness.
The boy looked up at the sky. It was low and cloudy, and gloomy, as if a heavy rain was brewing.
At this time, Shi Ci had already walked over and said to him, "Let's go home."
Shi Hai glanced at her carefully and said, "Sister, if you want to cry, I can lend you my shoulder."
Shi Ci glanced at him and said, "Thank you."
Shi Hai followed her and laughed, "Sister, let's find a place to eat. Ms. Ding and the others are not at home anyway."
"Sister, can I drive later..."
"Sister, it seems to be raining. Oh, it's so heavy. It's dripping on my face..."
"Sister, how about we go to Haidilao? It's so delicious to eat hotpot on a rainy day!"
"sister… "
"Shut up!"
Tang Zuo had been waiting at the bus stop for a long time, but the bus was nowhere to be found.
The view was filled with mist and drizzle, and the whole world looked like a suffocating ink painting.
She got off the bus at a small bus station in the suburbs and walked for a while. There was a bus at the bus stop here that could go directly to the school, but after waiting for almost fifteen minutes, she didn't see any sign of it.
This road leads to the cemetery halfway up the mountain. Today is the last day of the Qingming Festival holiday, and there are fewer vehicles passing by. Only a few cars occasionally whiz by, splashing water.
Tang Zuo took out his cell phone, typed the school address on the taxi-hailing app page, brushed away the raindrops that drifted onto his face, looked at the price, and put the phone back into his trouser pocket.
This time when she returned to her hometown to visit the graves, she stayed at her uncle's house.
Her uncle is her only relative. Her father is an orphan, and he and her mother are both teachers in the village middle school. Later, they worked hard and were transferred to the middle school in the county to teach together. They also bought a house in the county with a loan.
Tang Zuo's life before the age of fifteen was fulfilling and happy. His parents had a very good relationship. His mother married his father despite the opposition of her family. They loved each other as much as ever for ten years. Both of them loved Tang Zuo very much.
Until he was fifteen, his father died in a car accident.
A year later, my mother was diagnosed with cancer, breast cancer, stage III.
From then on, her life changed drastically.
Uncle Tang Zhao opened a small shop in the village and did some small business. He could barely make ends meet. He had two sons. The older one was attending a junior college in the county town, and the younger one had just entered high school.
Something happened during the three-day Qingming holiday. My uncle's eldest son was not doing well in his studies and was addicted to games. He was also in a relationship and had limited money, so he impulsively borrowed money from an unreliable online software.
When he could no longer hide it and could not afford to pay it back, he shamelessly went home crying and thought of a solution. The 1.70-foot-tall young man knelt in front of his parents, who were no longer young, and cried bitterly.
It was a really chaotic three days.
The uncle frowned, scolded and beat him, while the aunt cried, tried to persuade him, beat her chest and stamped her feet, complaining about the heavens and the earth. The youngest son couldn't stand it anymore and ran away. Tang Zhao didn't know whether to leave or not.
The sky is cold and rainy, and the chill and loneliness penetrate into my heart.
Tang Zuo wrapped herself in a cardigan, shivered slightly, and walked slowly. She accidentally walked into a puddle, and her canvas shoes got wet, with her socks soaked with water.
Her aunt had no way to come to her, "Xiao Zuo, your uncle also gave you 40,000 yuan to treat your mother's illness. This is almost the annual income of the store. Can you think of a way to pay it back?"
Her uncle yelled at her, "What are you doing? Xiao Zuo is still a student! She still needs to study! Where is the money?"
My aunt cried and cursed: "What can I do? You have to take care of your sister and your niece, but what about your son? Why is my life so miserable? I might as well die like your sister!"
"… "
She rushed over and tugged at Tang Zuo's sleeve. "You are a student from a prestigious university. It will be easy for you to find a job. You studied English and you can make a lot of money. Xiao Zuo, your uncle's family situation is also known. We were really nervous at the time, but you knelt in front of us, and we can't be stone-hearted. Auntie begs you, auntie kneels down for you!"
Her uncle came over and pulled her: "What are you doing? Are you going to kill the child?"
My aunt turned around and fought with him, "You are such a coward, you are not a man! If you have the guts, solve the problem..."
The ignorant son and the heavy debt have broken the backs of this poor couple and destroyed the little warmth between them.
Tang Zuo didn't say a word from beginning to end, and there was no way for him to get a word in.
Before returning to school, she gave most of the scholarships and financial aid for poor students awarded by the school last semester to her uncle, secretly transferring 6,500 yuan to him and leaving only 500 yuan for herself.
Tang Zuo walked slowly in the rain, her coat was covered with a layer of moisture, and the coldness penetrated into her inner clothes.
There is only this rain between heaven and earth.
She was the only one in the rain.
Fortunately, she still has an end.
Fortunately, she still has school to go back to.
In the dormitory at school, she had her own little bed and quilt. At least that corner made her feel comfortable and safe.
The rain was getting heavier. Shi Ci slowed down the car and frowned slightly as he watched the rain getting heavier outside.
Suddenly, his eyes fixed.
There was a figure in front of me. The wipers scraped past and water flowed down, making it clearer. On the girl's backpack was a familiar-looking small animal pendant, I couldn't tell if it was a chicken or a dog.
At the same time, Shi Hai, who was sitting in the passenger seat, also saw it and shouted, "Sister, sister, stop the car, stop the car quickly, stop, stop, stop..."
He rolled down the window and yelled, "Tang Tsou! Tang Tsou!"